Onslaught
by TheGreatWhiteNortherner
Summary: Trapped in the Death Game SAO. Kirito is forced to push himself to his limits because every 30 days a new event will occur and threaten the entire populace of Aincrad. Kirito along with 40,000 other players must survive the world and it's events for 5 years to be granted their freedom. Not 100 floors castle Aincrad, Different map for this story will be explained as you read.
1. Chapter 1

AN: So I decided to write a SAO story, I love SAO and I hope you guys like my tangent idea from the main story.

‹‹Sword›› game specifics

'thoughts'

"speaking"

Italics are just for emphasis or to make something stand out.

* * *

_November 6, 2025_

'Today is finally the day!' Thought a very excited 14 year old boy. His name is Kirigaya Kazuto, and he is currently running full speed up the stairs to his room. Ever since the beta ended Kazuto has done nothing but wait through the mind numbingly boring 2 month break before the game ended. The game in question is known as Sword Art Online, commonly referred to as SAO. During the beta 2,000 lucky people got to test and play the first ever VRMMO. They were all lucky enough to be drawn from the 200,000 applicants. The company behind the game Argus and the creator of the VR headset the Nerve Gear Kayaba Akihiko, knew they were pioneering a new field. The demand for their product was large. However within the time frame of its creation to the launch of SAO only 40,000 Nerve Gears were created and all of them sold out. Going along with that number 40,000 copies of the game were sold as well.

Reaching his room Kazuto quickly deposited his backpack on the floor and tore his jacket off. Dashing to his computer he started it up and plugged his Nerve Gear in. Kazuto normally isn't one to show emotion. However he just couldn't hold it in and a wide smile had been peeling his face apart all day. Trying to calm himself he lay down on his bed and put the Nerve Gear on. With the initiation command.

"Link Start!"

Kazuto was instantly cut off from the real world. Before he could enter the game a pop up window appeared.

_Welcome back ‹‹Kirito›› do you wish to keep using this name?_

Selecting yes, Kirigaya Kazuto aka Kirito was then confronted with another question.

_To show our thanks for your Beta participation, your name, character model, and all your in game contacts will be carried over from the beta. Also, with the new implementation of titles you will be granted the optional title of 'Beta Tester'. _

'Titles?' Thought Kirito, 'I don't remember hearing anything about titles, but this is an MMO so it makes sense.' Without a further thought he dived into the world he missed so much.

In a swirl of pixels, Kirito's avatar is left standing among a large crowd in a giant open square. His avatar has shoulder length raven colored hair, stands several centimeters taller than Kazuto does normally and had a near perfect body physique and a pretty boy look that would make his character fit right in as the lead role in any anime. The square was partially crowded, being one of the few areas inside the city that could fit up to as many as 50,000 characters in it. The city he was in was actually the only known city in the game. This city was massive, a 3-tiered behemoth. The outer tier was the civilian district, where all the general npcs lived. The second tier housed the merchant and crafting district. This is where any kind of skilled labor was done within the city, and where one could go wandering and find near anything for sale they needed. The 3rd and upper most tier, being that it was built on a hill, housed the cities keep, as well and many extravagant houses that were for sale for players if they ever managed to find enough ‹‹col›› to afford that life of luxury. The first 2 tiers were filled with npcs to cater to any needs the player might have. However the npcs were only so skilled and the best craftsmen you could find among them, while being labeled a master only sold gear up to level 20. For any real kind of crafted items a player would need to find a player craftsmen who had taken an apprenticeship from one of the so called masters and passed and was now able to open their own shop and could theoretically produce gear to the highest level. Weapons and armor that rivaled the games best boss drops. The 3rd tier was completely vacant in the beta, but Kirito had often heard rumors of a possibly king or some form of ruling body being implemented with the games launch. The city's name was Aincrad, the npc's had referred to it as the bastion of safety amongst the cruelties that filled the land of SAO.

Deciding not to waste the first day doing something trivial like the tutorial, Kirito sped from the square which was located in the 3rd tier and went towards his favorite npc weapons vendor. He encountered very few people on his way through the 2nd tier. Reaching the store, ‹‹Real Steel›› he entered and quickly found what he wanted a ‹‹Copper Straight Sword››. It was just a basic level one blade but it dealt nearly twice as much damage as the starter sword and its durability was triple that. So naturally he bought 2. Each cost around 200 col. Leaving him with 600 of the initial 1000 starting col. He then purchased some throwing picks and some very lightweight metal armor. Finding himself with 150 col left Kirito decided to grab himself a health potion from a nearby store.

Finally geared up with what he could afford he raced down through the rest of the 2nd district and then through the 3rd as well. Finding himself right where he wanted to be, at the North Gate, Kirito exited the city and found himself out on the wide open plain surrounding the city. It was a large grass plain that stretched about a mile and a half around the city on all sides. On the north side of the plain there was a large ancient pine forest that blanketed the land before it rose up into a massive mountain range. Out of the areas immediately surrounding Aincrad's plain the northern forest was considered the most difficult to level in. Packs of wolves and small tribes of goblins lived near the forest edge. Deeper inside the forest no one knew what lay there. As no one had entered it during the beta.

Setting off down the cobbled road from the North Gate, Kirito soon found himself alone surrounded by several inches tall green grass. He eventually happened upon a caravan that was being raided. Quickly examining the fight Kirito could see that a group of 20 goblins were attacking a small lumber caravan bringing wood to the city from the lumber camp on the forest's edge. The goblins were level 3 mobs geared plainly with bent iron short swords. Several had small wooden bucklers rimmed with iron, and the leader of the raid wore a small iron cap in between his large pointed green ears. Despite their similar appearance each goblin was randomly generated and had a different look. They were a various range of squat creatures with small limbs colored different shades of green and yellow. The caravan they were assaulting had only 10 npc soldiers defending it. Each was level 5 with an iron straight sword and a medium sized iron kite shield as well as some plain brown leather armor. But outnumbered as they were he could tell the goblins would overwhelm the defenders and slaughter the caravan. Seeing a potential quest Kirito threw one of his picks with his ‹‹Throwing›› skill. The small metal dart wizzed forward in a flash of red impacting the closest goblin in the back of the head. Not being one to waste time Kirito was already following his pick and by initiating a ‹‹Slant›› he cleaved diagonally through the goblin's skull. The damage dealt by the pick and the critical ‹‹Slant›› was enough to kill the goblin. The guard it had been fighting looked surprised for a moment before yelling.

"Great timing stranger. If you help us defeat these goblins I can promise you will be rewarded."

Verbally accepting the quest Kirito replied.

"Gladly."

Turning around he saw 3 less goblins then before and 1 less guard. The other 8 guards were engaged in fights of 2 on one and looked to be hard pressed. Dashing forward Kirito went to aid the nearest guard. As he neared the man he caught the attention of one of the goblins, which disengaged the guard and turned to face Kirito. It raced forward uttering a guttural roar, as it reached him it swung its sword down with all its might hoping to cleave Kirito in two. However Kirito quickly sidestepped the blow and countered with a ‹‹Horizontal››. The slash left an angry red line on the goblins unprotected chest. Dealing about 40% damage to its otherwise full health bar. Goblins of such a low level are unable to use sword skills so Kirito after dodging the goblin's 2nd clumsy swing unleashed a more powerful 2 hit sword skill ‹‹Vertical Arc›› leaving the goblin with a glowing red V trail signifying the damage dealt. This small combo dealt enough damage to leave the goblin as nothing but some pixels in the breeze. Continuing his rampage Kirito and the remaining guards managed to fend off the goblins. Kirito was even able to defeat the raid leader by stabbing his sword through the goblins mouth. In the aftermath only 3 guards remained and 2 were heavily wounded. of the 20 laborers assigned to bring the lumber back 5 had died as well. The leader of the caravan, a rather pudgy merchant looking man walked up to Kirito and proclaimed all the divine blessings he could upon the young swordsman. Ignoring the praises he asked about being rewarded for saving the caravan. And with a bing sound a window appeared before Kirito.

‹‹Congratulations young warrior, to thank you for your effort I will give you what col I have which is about 3000. As well since you manage to keep most of my laborers intact (for the quest bonus at least 3/4 of the laborers must survive) I will write you this letter to give to the foreman of the lumber camp, he will see to it you are properly rewarded.››

Using his right hand Kirito clicked the accept button on the window and went to sit on the side to see what drops he got from the goblins and spend his experience points he got for leveling up twice. There were several main stats but Kirito focused only on ‹‹agi›› and ‹‹str›› and ‹‹vit››. Being granted 5 points every level Kirito spent them as 2/2/1 respectively. Going for speed and power with a bit into health just in case. Kirito's style was to focus heavily into quick and fast attacks while being strong and fast enough to dodge and parry.

The skills he had chosen so far were ‹‹One-handed sword››, ‹‹Throwing››, and ‹‹Searching››. You get to chose a new one per level up to level 15, then supposedly there were ways to gain more skill slots but no one ever reached such a point in the beta. Except for level 2 you do not chose a skill instead you get to start with 2 skills at level one.

Checking the time Kirito saw it was nearly 4:45. He knew he was expected at dinner at 6:00. So he had plenty of time to continue. Standing up, Kirito began to trek the rest of the way to the lumber camp. Reaching it half an hour later thanks to his detours fighting the roaming packs of boars on the plain, Kirito went to find the foreman. Finding said npc, he walked up and initiated a conversation.

"Hello there, you are the foreman correct?"

A large man with a big brown beard turned around and said.

"Yes I am the foreman, who are you stranger?"

Kirito handed the man the letter and waited. Upon seeing the mans eyebrows rise Kirito knew the foreman was surprised.

"Well firstly I must thank you, that lumber was requested by the top construction craftsmen in the city. In gratitude I would like to reward you with this cloak."

Giving a thanks as a reply Kirito accepted the cloak and examined it in his inventory. ‹‹Cloak of the Forest's Shadow››. It was a black cloak with a high collar that went down to the floor. The cloak gave the bonus's of +10% hiding skill, +10% one-handed ax skill, and all noise made by the users movement is muffled. Kirito liked that his noise would be muffled and since he just leveled up from the xp gained from talking to the foreman he had already planned as his 4th skill to be ‹‹Hiding››. Even though he doesn't use an ax he knew the cloak would be worth his while to use for now. Leaving the foreman's house Kirito went to find some quests within the lumber camp only to suddenly be surrounded by blue, he felt an unfamiliar tug, and seconds later he found himself within the starting square of Aincrad.

'What was that?' He wondered. 'A forced teleport I assume but why?' Looking around Kirito saw that the square was nearly packed. 'Wow this must be all 40,000 players.' Before he could continue wondering Kirito glanced up and saw a red hexagon in the sky proclaim the message ‹‹System Announcement›› and then the sky way filled with similar hexagons. And out of the uniform wall of red came a viscous red liquid that reminded him of blood. It leaked through the hexagons and then instead of splattering on the ground it started congealing in the sky. Soon a massive blob was formed and it started to take shape. It formed into the robes the GM's would wear in the beta. Except it had no face just a robe floating in the air. That's when it raised it hands in a welcoming gesture. Everyone in the square was completely focused on the figure now.

Then it spoke, with a deep booming voice. "**Hello and welcome to Sword Art Online. MY name is Kayaba Akihiko. As some of you may have noticed the log out button has been removed from the menu. This is not a bug, it is a feature of SAO. From this point on anyone whose character reaches zero hit points and dies will die in the game and in real life as well. Also any attempts to remove the Nerve Gear will result in your death. Already I have sent this message out to try and prevent that from happening but some people refused to listen and 213 people have already died. But have no fear this message is currently circulating on every news network imaginable, you have no need to fear death by an outside interference**."

'With how the Nerve Gear works, it would be possible for it to release a strong microwave pulse which would cook the brain.' Kirito shuddered as he realized this. 'Kayaba isn't joking.' Broken from his thoughts by the voice again.

"**From this point on SAO is now a death game. The only way for you to leave the game is to survive for the next 5 years. At the end of this time after the final event, if it is cleared, all those still alive within the game will be logged out. However be warned every 30 days from now till the final day an event will take place. These events will be targeted against you, the players. Don't expect to be able to survive by just hiding in the city. It is in your best interest to fight and level before the first event takes place on December 6th. Remember you have been warned. I look forward to watching what you all choose to do. Don't disappoint. And before I leave I gave you all a gift, it is in your inventory**."

With the last word the giant GM robe vanished and the sky returned to normal. Opening his inventory along with every other player, Kirito found a ‹‹mirror››. Equipping it he looked into it and saw his avatar's face. Suddenly he was surrounded by blue pixels, in a swirl he couldn't see anything for several seconds. The swirl vanished as suddenly as it appeared. Looking around Kirito saw the players around him all looked different. Instead of courageous warriors or cool anime characters, everyone looked like normal people. Even body sizes that one couldn't have chosen for their character were on display. With an idea of what had happened Kirito looked into his mirror once more. Dread filled Kirito as instead of seeing the face of his avatar he saw the face of Kirigaya Kazuto. A more feminine face with shorter black hair the only reached down to just above eye level. He also then realized that he was shorter. His body had been completely replicated into SAO.

'This is my actual face with my actual body.' With that thought in mind Kirito realized that what Kayaba had done was effectively trap them all within a 2nd reality as SAO was detailed enough to be a real world. While Kirito was busy running through his head what a mad genius Kayaba was and the possible implications. Others around him had taken the words said and there meaning and were now panicking. Shouts of terror and screams of confusion swirled with many swears created a cacophony of noise within the square. Kirito snapped out of his thoughts and realized the potential of a confused and scared mass of people could be harmful to him. Even though he couldn't lose hp in the city he could still be trampled or swept away in a crazed crowd, neither of which he felt like experiencing. Lady luck was on his side as he found himself near the edge of the square. He dashed through the crowd and into the open street outside.

'To survive this death game I need to be as highly leveled as possibly with the best gear. Other people will just slow me down. Besides I am the one who managed to level up the highest in the beta, I know the most about this game. I will survive. In 30 days who knows what will happen but I will be prepared for it and I will overcome it.'

With these thoughts in mind Kirito sped out of the city back off towards the lumber camp. He knew almost no one would risk entering the forest at this point, it held the highest chance of death for beginning players such as themselves. But Kirito also knew if he manages to fight though it and survive he will easily be the strongest player in the game and have the best chance of survival.

'And besides if anyone can survive the forest I can.'

* * *

AN: Hope you liked it and the next chapter will cover what Kirito does for those 30 days a bit and then the first event will occur!

Feel free to R/R


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Woohoo let's go chapter 2. Let's find out how Kirito fared for his self exile into the Northern forest.

* * *

_December 2, 2025_

'Already over three weeks in...' Kirito silently mused to himself as he trekked back to his campsite. It was late evening on the 26th day of the death game SAO. Located in the ‹‹Northern Forest››, Kirito had placed a ‹‹Campsite›› up in a clearing with dense tree's ringing it. The ‹‹Campsite›› was a quest reward he had received after rescuing a lost explorer who decided to retire and no longer had a need for his camping gear. It set up a small safe area that allowed the player, or any player for that matter to sleep safely within its ring of influence. When set up it produced a 2 man sized green tent, 2 sleeping bags, a small campfire that would always be lit unless the player chose otherwise, and if upgraded the ‹‹Campsite›› could have several optional settings. Something Kirito had yet to invest in as he hadn't returned to Aincrad yet. Anytime he wanted to repair his gear or vendor some items he frequented the lumber camp near the forest's edge. Kirito was really interested in acquiring the small chest upgrade for his ‹‹Campsite›› as it would be a place for him to store some items allowing him a longer time in between visits to vendor.

Reaching his clearing he was greeted by the flames glowing a brilliant orange as the sun was mid set, the fire easily kept the clearing toasty. Kirito had been sweeping through the forest for two weeks now. Finding random quests and fighting off the packs or hordes the forest's inhabitants favored. His first week within the game had been spent doing all the lumber camp's quests then going on excursions through the forest. He had been lucky to find the lost hiker, as it was a first come first serve quest. Normally such a nice campsite couldn't be crafted till a tailor was at least 800/1000 into the skill. Which could take months of constant grinding. Most likely longer within this game as he guessed many players were to afraid to venture out to where the mats could be found.

Kirito had encountered one player since he fled the city. ‹‹Coper›› was a boy around his age slightly shorter than Kirito and had brown hair. It was the 3rd day of the game and Kirito had met the boy at the lumber camp in the morning. They had spoken and Kirito explained one of the quests to him. He had guessed the boy was a beta tester to have the guts to try the forest out for leveling but he couldn't have been sure. They had split off in different directions that day. Kirito was on the final quest for the camp as such he had to venture deep into the forest's eaves and slay a local goblin chieftain. ‹‹Glob Skull the Overbearing›› Kirito had laughed at the name at first picturing a large fat housewife version of a goblin screeching as it nagged the tribe day in and day out. When he finally encountered Glob he realized overbearing really just applied to the amount of detail the goblin put into cleaning his weapon. A large halberd that Glob had wielding with both hands. He had swung it around viciously but Kirito had been level 8 at this point while the goblin was only 5, the amount of damage that bled through anytime Kirito blocked the swings was minimal. After each block Kirito was able to throw the goblin's weapon off in a random direction causing the goblin to stumble making it easy for Kirito to activate a small cooldown sword skill and he quickly tore the chieftain down after several combos. After that day he had never encountered Coper again. Due to the risk of the forest and the long time since contact, Kirito assumed Coper had bit off more then he could chew and had paid the price.

From the quests completed Kirito had managed to obtain an ‹‹Anneal Blade››. It was an awesome sword, but he had never seen it before in the beta because he hadn't really spent much time in the ‹‹Northern Forest›› so he hadn't happened upon an old house in the woods with a sick old woman asking you to bring her medicine from a certain flower found somewhere deeper in the woods. Currently he had enough mats to upgrade his ‹‹Anneal Blade›› 14 times. However the max was +10 a weapon could be upgraded and he was currently planning on returning to Aincrad to search for a capable player smith. With the lower percentage chance each upgrade he was hoping having 4 spares would be enough to guarantee +10. If not he dreaded how many more goblins he would have to kill for their rare drop of ‹‹Goblin Whet Stone››.

Sitting down on a log next to the campfire Kirito pulled out a small rabbit he had killed with a throwing pick. Thankfully all players could prepare the most basic meals without having to chose the ‹‹Cooking›› skill. So he roasted it over the fire. During the cooking and subsequent eating Kirito scanned idly through his menu checking all his player data. In the past 26 days he had managed to level up to 17. His health was currently at a nice 2,800. From his starting point at level 1 he had 250 hp then every level earned gave players +50 hp while every point in ‹‹vit›› was worth +100. Kirito was quite happy with his build. He only had 8 skill slots filled currently even though he had all 15 unlocked. His skills were ‹‹One-Handed Sword››, ‹‹Throwing››, ‹‹Searching››, ‹‹Hiding››, ‹‹Battle Healing››, ‹‹Traps››, ‹‹Night Vision››, and ‹‹Martial Arts››. He considered all of these skills to be his core skills. Normally a player would want to fill their skill slots up as quickly as possible as they can only be advanced by being used. So waiting to fill slots for a long time means your new skill will be far behind the others. But Kirito had several plans for his other slots that he couldn't yet fill the skill in, because of the prerequisites that accompany them. Choosing skills was permanent in this game so if he incorrectly filled a slot in it could possibly even lead to his death in this game. Of the large list immediately available the skills he had already chosen were the only ones he wanted. Besides that lots of other skills existed within the game, there is nearly an infinite number of skills. He wanted to leave an opening in case he finds another rare skill. But players can only happen across these skills or unlock there prerequisites. Many skills are still unknown or no one knows how to unlock them. For example Kirito had ‹‹Martial Arts››, a skill he happened across.

While exploring the forest just several days ago he had happened upon a clearing. Scanning the clearing with his ‹‹Searching›› skill he discovered no hostile mobs only one lone npc. The man was clearly based off of Bruce Lee. He even was dressed similarly. Kirito saw the quest icon floating above so he decided to approach. The npc spoke first.

"Who goes there, this is my training clearing and I don't appreciate being interrupted."

The man's name appeared ‹‹Master Lee››. 'Ha' Kirito thought, 'he really is based on Bruce Lee.' Before he could get further sidetracked however Master Lee dropped into a defensive position. Quickly trying to avert a fight.

"Hello sir, I was wandering these woods and I happened upon your clearing by chance."

The npc didn't really recognize what Kirito said but since he replied to him it further continued the quest.

"Oh you there look like a warrior. Well then warrior would you like to learn a new skill?"

'A new skill? Must be some form of hand to hand combat skill. I could then use my left hand to fight as well. I bet no one even knows this quest exists.' Quickly deciding to continue the quest since he liked the possible reward Kirito accepted.

"Well then warrior to learn this skill you must prove your worthiness. Do you see those 3 trees there? Go chop them down with nothing but your hand. Once all three have fallen I will teach you my new skill. But be warned if you leave this clearing before the trees fall I will not train you."

Kirito nearly had a heart attack when the npc pointed to 3 massive trees. Each was at least a meter to 2 meters wide near the base where he would be expected to chop it down. 'How the hell am I going to do this? I bet the trees just have high durability and I have to punch them over and over...' And so he did. Kirito punched one tree for near 2 hours before he got bored and started pretending to do karate chops and roundhouse kicks. Surprisingly when he checked the durability his random attacks were working. With one final karate chop while letting out a mighty.

"HIIII YYYAAAAAA!"

Kirito broke the first tree which incidentally was the largest of the three. Greatly inspired by felling his first adversary Kirito jumped to work on the second one. With his random combination of attacks he found the second one to go much faster then the first. After taking a break to rest Kirito renewed his attacks with vigor hoping to bring the final tree down in time to make it back to his campsite before it was to late at night for him to get a decent nights sleep.

"Oh ho! Congratulations warrior. I will now teach you my skill ‹‹Martial Arts››."

A pop window appeared after Kirito replied announcing.

_You now know ‹‹Martial Arts›› good luck young grasshopper. _

Exhausted from his exertion Kirito had somehow made his way back to his campsite without running into many mobs.

* * *

_December 3, 2025_

Kirito woke up early, so early the sun was just rising. But this was his normal habit, he only slept a few hours each night in the attempt to maximize the amount of time he could spend leveling. Stretching he got lost in his thoughts as he prepared to pack the ‹‹Campsite›› up.

'Heading to the city today is certainly going to be interesting. I need to find a smith, and I should definitely find a player merchant to sell off the loot I don't need.' Checking his friends list Kirito saw one name.

_Argo_

'I should probably try to get in contact with Argo. She messaged me once, around a week ago to see if I was still alive, all I replied was.'

_Yes_

'Then I ignored all the following messages from her. She is probably going to be furious. Ah well time to leave I have a lot to do today.'

With his thoughts concluded Kirito left his forest clearing, his ‹‹Campsite›› returned to his inventory. His walk back through the forest was uneventful. Even though he had come to find things had changed since the beta, the forest eaves still only housed goblin bands and wolf packs as hostile mobs. There levels now far below him they posed no threat. Even the several mini bosses he had slain over his outings wouldn't pose a threat to him anymore. His plan was to head back to Aincrad and then he would stay there and accomplish his business before the ‹‹First Event›› was suppose to occur. Kirito couldn't help himself he was extremely curious as to what it would be. There had been nothing in the beta that he could imagine being used. The several beta events had basically just been parties involving the players and gm's at the time. With demonstrations of high level skills and gear.

Reaching the edge of the forest's eaves Kirito entered a field full of stumps. Across from his position he could see the small wall that surrounded the lumber camp. Smoke rising from several chimneys.

'Well what do you know, back at the lumber camp. Hmmm I never actually checked what the name of this camp was.' Deciding to solve his query Kirito opened his menu and checked the map. 'Ahh that simple huh?'

_Northern Lumber Camp_

His answer found he marched across the stump field and into the camp. Not surprised at all he found it vacant except for npc laborers flitting to and fro working and npc guards lazily standing at attention at the entrances. Finding nothing out of the ordinary he walked toward the southern end of the camp where the cobblestone road that led from the camp to the city began 'or ended' depending on where you departed from he mused to himself.

It was past mid day and Kirito was still a mile out from the city. He could easily see Aincrad's tall walls. They were very visible from the surroundings especially when one found themselves on the surrounding plain. For about 1,500 feet in every direction around the city no mobs spawned. At that border however plenty of level 1 ‹‹boars›› could be found. They were the trash of trash mobs nearly moving training dummies. They rewarded minimal col and dropped some very basic items. There one main use besides training was they dropped basic tailoring leather. The farther from the city a player got the boars level would increase up to level 5 on the very outskirts of the ring of grass. Kirito was actually surprised to find players mixed in with the level 4 boars. Parties of player duking it out with these insignificant mobs.

'I guess they have to start somewhere.'

Kirito was very thankful that this game had so many cosmetic items in it. It meant that his strange cloak which was a unique reward wouldn't draw attention to him. He hated being the center of attention, in fact he hated receiving almost any attention. He would often fidget when someone scrutinized him or glared at him. Thankfully as well the metal armor he is wearing isn't anything special looking. His ‹‹Anneal Blade›› however, while not flashy certainly looked nice. Looking at it one could tell it was a high quality sword. Fortunately he doubted he would be asked about it by some passerby.

Nearing the city the number of players littering the field only grew. It seemed that the majority of people had only just begun to level up within the last week or less, it would explain why so many people were standing around killing a couple of boars then having to wait for them to re spawn as the lower level boars were literally encased in a mass spawn camp massacre. Finally he made it to the ‹‹North Gate››. It fit as what one would expect, curved at the top coming down from its arc to the ground. A large thick wooden door nailed and lashed together tightly of large logs from the ‹‹Northern Forest›› made it up. It was studded with iron as a reinforcement and coated with an ointment to prevent it from easily catching fire. When open the gate was wide enough for 6 people to walk side by side comfortably through and it stood an impressive 8 feet tall. It fit nicely within the large wood logs that made up the outer most wall of the city. Which reached up 10 feet tall and was about 2 feet thick. The gatehouse which left the gate shadowed was nothing special. All in all the outer most wall of Aincrad which was its first line of defense was nothing special but it did a good job.

'And since npc's don't exactly just attack the city I think the cosmetic value of the walls certainly is nice.' Kirito thought as he passed through the gate into the 3rd tier of the city. Houses upon houses crowded the lowest tier of the city. Inn's broke up the houses complete dominance over the district but otherwise the 3rd district certainly wasn't that visually appealing. Squat wooden houses big enough to house anywhere from 1-5 people were everywhere. Kirito figured since no one would yet be able to afford a house in the first district all 30 whatever thousand players must be renting the inns out or living in these houses. Since most of the npcs that otherwise lived in the houses had no purpose when the house was owned they disappeared but would reappear to take ownership of the house if it was ever vacated.

Quickly finishing his 'tour' of the third district Kirito found himself at the ‹‹North Gate›› of the 2nd tier. Sadly for the defense of the city, houses and inns were built in some places all the way up directly to the wall. Making it so with short ladders a besieger could quickly climb the wall from the top of a house. But The 2nd wall was certainly more impressive then the first. This wall was stone. Blackish grey and imposing. Should one find themselves assaulting this wall they would face a wooden portcullis on both sides along with a 2 inch thick black iron door that would be slammed closed at the sign of an invader. Over top the gate stood a much more functional and sturdy looking gatehouse of the same stone. This wall was 15 feet high and 4 feet thick. Quite a stout wall. The outer face of the wall was rimmed with battlements to help defenders against ranged weaponry. Large stone towers stood 20 feet apart on either side of the gate, creating a nice crossfire zone effect on the gate. The towers were very short only extending an additional 5 feet to top off at 20 feet tall. Besides the two on either side of the gatehouse, these towers were placed 60 feet apart from one another along the ring of the wall.

Passing through, Kirito could see that the npc guards at this gate were at least 15 levels higher then the ones defending the outer wall, based upon their gear's appearance anyway. Wondering why that was Kirito made his way into the blacksmith section of the Craftsmen District.

_Bing!_

Surprised by the sudden noise Kirito nearly didn't notice the little icon that appeared on his HUD informing him that he had just received a message.

'A message? Argo must have seen me come into town.' Kirito realized as he had selected that only friends could send him messages. He paused while walking and put his back to a building so no one could read over his shoulder. Without further delay he opened it.

_Dear Ki-Bou_

_What do I spy with my little eye? Only a player coming from the ‹‹Northern Lumber Camp›› road first give away, but then he is carrying the highest quality sword I have seen yet, hint two, but the thing that gave away it all to me even though I had yet to see your real face was your color scheme. Really Kirito all black... that's how I knew my Ki-Bou was back in town. Seeing as your here but I am currently busy I can only guess you are here to upgrade your equipment. Because I know this and because I am just glad to see you actually hadn't died but have been receiving my messages I will give you two names and two locations. They will suit the 2 needs I am certain you are here to fulfill. But YOU OWE ME! I actually was worried about you, don't ever ignore me again. **AND I WILL GET YOU BACK FOR IT! **For a smith you want ‹‹Lizbeth›› shes runs her own shop, named ‹‹Heart Forged››. And certainly you must have plenty to sell, for a player merchant go find the guy named ‹‹Agil›› he runs his shop named ‹‹The Black Market›› don't worry no shady business or anything. He may not have the biggest player base to sell to but he mostly deals with the higher level players anyway who I am guessing would be the only ones able to buy your loot.  
__Catch ya later Ki-Bou  
-Argo_

'Dam she is good.' Kirito thought as he closed the message smirking slightly. 'Well the merchant district is on the opposite side of this tier and I was heading to the smiths first might as well search for Lizbeth.'

10 Minutes later finds Kirito walking into the shop ‹‹Heart Forged››. A small bell jingles as he open the door. A voice calls out from somewhere in another room.

"One moment, I will be there shortly."

Finding himself in a decent sized shop Kirito begins to look around and admire the collection of weapons along the walls and on display.

'Well she certainly has been grinding her ‹‹Smithing›› I know halberds can't be made till at least 150/1000.' He admires as he notices several of said weapon hanging on the left wall. Cut from his musings as the voice from before says.

"Welcome to ‹‹Heart Forged›› my name is Lizbeth and this is my shop! May I help you with something?"

"Erm... Hello my name is Kirito, and umm err I need my sword, this dagger, and my armor upgraded if that's at all possible. And I was looking to purchase several more daggers." Kirito answered rather awkwardly at first.

'Jeez when is the last time I talked to anyone besides an npc.' He thought.

"I should have no problem upgrading those for you as long as you have all the mats and can pay, while I do that you can browse my selection of daggers on the right over there, or you can come watch. It seems like everyone wants to watch whenever I upgrade their gear, superstition or something I suppose." Lizbeth answered sweetly.

"Ahh yes I would like to be there when you upgrade my sword but the dagger and armor I don't mind missing to browse the daggers."

Talking aside Lizbeth invited Kirito into the forge room.

"Alright how many times am I upgrading what?" Asked Lizbeth as she walked over to her anvil.

"Well I would like my sword upgraded to +10 please. Here I have enough mats for 14 upgrades so you can keep trying if you fail."

"Arrrgh WHAT! +10? I have never upgraded past +3! And MESS UP! I bet I can get all 10 without missing one." Replied an exasperated smith.

"I would certainly appreciate that. Then for my dagger I have enough mats for a +4 upgrade and for my armor enough for a +6 upgrade. Here." Kirito finished talking as he opened a trade window with Lizbeth. Then proceeded to trade his sword, dagger, and armor as well hundreds of mats over. "Thanks Lizbeth I really appreciate this." Kirito then went over to the wall and leaned against it waiting to see the smith preform on his sword.

Astonished at the number of items in the stacks of mats Kirito handed over Liz ignored him when he used her full name. Grumbling to herself realizing this guy was serious she found his ‹‹Anneal Blade›› and opened up a window to designate what she was going to craft. Taking her hammer from her inventory she proceeded to hammer the blade on the anvil upgrading it time and again. At +4 she let a small smile grace her face. 'Ha I can totally upgrade this 10 times in a row who cares if it will only have a 10% chance for the final one.' At +7 her small smile was now a smirk. Getting to +9 in a row made her practically smug. Then.

_Upgrade Failure_

"ARRGGH NO!"

Leaning against the wall Kirito couldn't help but be amazed, this smith had just done 9 successful upgrades in a row. ' Dam I honestly thought she would get +10 with how she was going.' Deciding to tease her Kirito let a smirk creep onto his lips.

"Well I guess it can't be helped but I give you a 9/10 for effort." Sarcasm laced every word.

A small embarrassed smile on her face Lizbeth answered "Hey 9 upgrades in a row is amazing I challenge you to find a better smith."

Deciding not to tease her more because she really was right "Ahh no, thank you Lizbeth you did a wonderful job and now I would appreciate it if you could finish said job. In fact you have proven your skills to me so well, I will leave you in peace to finish the 10th upgrade and the other upgrades, one of your daggers really caught my eye."

* * *

_December 6, 2025_

'Today's the day.' Kirito thought. ' I sure am glad Liz was so helpful.' After he had left the room to search her daggers, Liz had managed the 10th upgrade on her 3rd try, Kirito told her to keep the extra mats as thanks, then she managed +3 on his dagger and +6 on his armor. He found 3 daggers of hers that he really liked. All perfectly balanced for throwing. He had spent a large amount of his col in her shop but it was col well spent in his mind. Liz had realized he was a very skilled player by the upgrades he asked for and the sheer amount of mats and col he had. So she had given him a discount if he promised to always have her be his exclusive smith. Making a promise to return Kirito agreed.

He had found Agil's shop with relative ease. And managed to make up more than the col he had spent at Liz's by the time he had left. Agil was shocked by the amount and quality of gear he was looking to sell. Agil had maybe one piece of gear on the same level. Agil had even tried to buy Kirito's ‹‹Anneal Blade›› upon seeing what high quality it was for this earlier in the game. Kirito had flatly declined. On no circumstance was he going to part with his sword till he found one of greater ability.

After that had been accomplished Kirito set off to find a restaurant and eat a nice cooked meal. He then put himself to bed rather early in an inn in the 3rd tier.

December 4th and 5th had passed by with nothing exciting happening. Kirito had met up with Argo and they had talked for a while, Kirito never told her where he had been since launch. After that meeting with future ones promised should either find something worth telling the other. Kirito had set off to the the 1st tier to explore it. Over the course of those 2 days he found that the tier was still vacant of npcs. One intriguing thing he found was a giant piece of gray metal that had a list of all 40,000 player's names. There was a counter that said how many still were in the game.

_38,993_

'Over 1,000 people have died within the first month.' Kirito was astounded. He had searched for Coper's name and had found it crossed out signifying that the boy had indeed been killed. His cause of death was

_Mauled by wolf_

Kirito realized Coper must have been overwhelmed by a pack. 'It's odd' he thought but I am not particularly upset that he died. He just seemed unstable to me when I talked with him. That's why I made sure to head in the opposite direction of him that day.'

It was just before mid day and the sky was heavily clouded. As Kirito was brought out of his thoughts he found himself alone at the ‹‹South Gate›› of the 3rd tier. The gate's npc's numbers were double that of the ‹‹North Gate››. Why no one was really sure. But last night an npc had appeared at the gate nearly dead. He brought word of a "flood that was coming". Naturally Kirito realized this meant some form of mass amount of mobs instead of an actual wave of water.

'It just wouldn't make sense for Kayaba to try and drown everyone 30 days into the game.' He had logically decided. At that moment the clouds burst and a heavy down pour covered the city. 'Does this signify that the flood is nearly here?' Again thinking Kirito failed to notice the ‹‹Alarm Bell›› sound from the 1st tier. He did notice it however after he was distracted by a icon appearing and a loud.

_Bing!_

Quickly opening Argo's message, Kirito read.

_Kirito quick come to the ‹‹East Gate›› as fast as you can. I'm seeing lots of mobs here._

Not bothering to read the rest of the message Kirito raced off in the direction of the ‹‹East Gate››. Now he could clearly hear the city's ‹‹Alarm Bell›› blaring out across Aincrad. Warning the 39,000 remaining players that the ‹‹First Event›› had just begun!

* * *

AN: WOW sorry I was planning on including the first event this chapter but I got caught up in writing Kirito's earlier adventures and some more back story to this story. Anyway expect great action next chapter.

And I went back and did some editing in the first chapter nothing major but if you have the time I would recommend re reading it if you read it before this chapter came out.

I hope everything makes sense so far in the story.

Hope you enjoyed feel free to R/R.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Chapter 3 is here along with the ‹‹First Event››! I changed several things in the last chapter, one is a noticeable difference, instead of Argo saying Thousands of mobs she just sees a lot.

Anyway Please Enjoy

* * *

_December 6, 2025  
East Gate Tier 3_

Arriving at the large plaza in front of the 3rd tier's ‹‹East Gate›› Kirito found hundreds of players engaged in close quarters combat with around 100 goblins. Scanning the scene quickly Kirito deduced that these players were of a decent level probably around 10 for most of them. They were fighting in groups using numbers to ensure no casualties against the goblins. The goblins he saw were named ‹‹Goblin Scout››, they were level 10. Amidst the confusion of so many bodies packed together fighting Kirito heard one voice yelling orders. Following the voice to its source he saw a heavily armored player with a sword and shield. The player stood tall near the front of the melee his blue hair hung down to shoulder length.

'Huh I guess some players organized themselves for today.' Kirito had expected mostly solo and small group efforts from those brave enough to confront the ‹‹First Event›› one player leading hundreds of others in one massive raid was not what he had expected at all. He listened to what the player was yelling.

"STAY FOCUSED EVERYONE! WE ARE DOING GREAT!" and other such encouragements were what he was currently yelling since the player had already maneuvered everyone into a decent fighting shape within the plaza.

Taking another look Kirito analyzed the enemy. At level 8 the goblins had around 1,000 hp. they were wearing some kind of medium leather chest armor and were each dual wielding daggers. They didn't seem to posses any sword skills. They had leather caps on as well to protect their head. All in all they presented a danger to almost any player still in the game. To Kirito however he could dispatch they with a single ‹‹Horizontal›› if he were to swing full strength. In a fight such as this one he couldn't imagine why he would give anything less than 100% though.

The echoing clashes from metal on metal spurred him to action. Since he had arrived nearly half the goblins had died, from what he could tell no player had yet to die, they would safely retreat behind their comrades if their health fell to low. Drawing his blade Kirito calmly walked towards the front line. As he walked he saw a group of 5 battling with 3 goblins. 3 players had shield out and had them held up in a line forming a shield wall, these 3 wielded an assortment of 1 handed weapons. Behind them stood the other two, both had two handed spears. They were stabbing at the goblins over the shield wall their friends presented.

'A very defensive but effective strategy.' Kirito thought. He reached this group as one of the shield bearers broke rank to finish of the last goblin with a smash of his mace onto the goblins skull. While the 5 celebrated their success Kirito walked past. He had spotted a goblin that was different. after scanning it he had discovered it was labeled ‹‹Scout Captain››. This goblin stood at least a foot taller than his smaller counterparts. Instead of the dual daggers this goblin had an iron bastard sword and a medium sized oval shield made of iron as well. On the shield was a symbol Kirito wasn't familiar with. It was a large black mace smashing down onto several stick figures who clearly represented humans. On the ground the humans lay defenseless and covered in blood. All in all it was a very descriptive drawing of stick figures. This goblin stood with the other remaining 6 goblins near the gate. Kirito approached alone. A shout rang out from behind him.

"YOU THERE IN BLACK, WHAT ARE YOU DOING GET BACK IN FORMATION!"

Ignoring the voice he recognized as the blue haired leader's Kirito decided to finish this quick. He dashed forward towards the 2 right most goblins. Initiating a ‹‹Horizontal›› he swung his blade through both goblins. Their health depleted before they realized what happened Kirito turned to the other 3 in between him and the captain. He dodged a stab from the closest goblin and hit it with an ‹‹Uppercut›› from his left hand. Knocking that goblin into a short daze Kirito rained down a small combo he had invented, unassisted by the system swinging a weapon usually didn't deal as much damage as an assisted strike would. So most players completely relied on sword skills. Kirito with his background in Kendo felt confident enough to fight un assisted. And he had spent the last month perfecting several combo attacks he had imagined up. The result on the goblin he was facing was enough damage to easily kill it. Spinning away from it he stabbed through the neck of the goblin he had dazed earlier and spun back around to parry both daggers away from the third goblin. Off balance from his double stab the goblin was easily dispatched by a slice through its throat. The Captain and one goblin remained. Barking out an order in a strange language Kirito assumed to be Goblin, the remaining subordinate quickly rushed Kirito bellowing out a war cry. Unfazed by the charge Kirito calmly parried the strikes away and stabbed the goblin through the heart with a one hit sword skill ‹‹Skewer››. As the goblin disintegrated into particles Kirito kept his eyes glued to the captain. From his position 8 feet away Kirito initiated his newest skill ‹‹Sonic Leap››. He jumped through the air guided by the system and dealt over 2/3 damage to the captains health bar. Surprised the goblin hadn't raised it's shield and payed for it harshly. Exchanging several back and forth blocks Kirito broke through the creatures guard and finished it with a ‹‹Slant›› across the chest.

"Just what do you think you were doing?" Came a slightly upset sounding voice from behind him. Kirito glanced over his shoulder. Arrayed before him in the plaza were near 250 players if one were to count. At their front stood the one Kirito assumed to be leading them.

"What did it look like I was doing?" Kirito shot back in a neutral tone. He had turned around and was now facing the crowd.

"You broke formation and could have been killed. You must have only put points into ‹‹str›› since you were killing them so quickly. That is a dangerous build to go for." No longer listening to this player's lecture Kirito was now scanning the crowd. After another couple minutes of pointless droning Kirito interrupted the player.

"Hey so those goblins," he now had everyone's attention even though he wasn't talking very loud. "Was that all the ‹‹First Event›› was? Or do you think those goblins really were just scouts for some larger force?" The crowd broke out into dozens or conversations. All the groups were talking amongst themselves. Ignoring the sound they made Kirito focused on the blue haired player and made eye contact. "You." He said, "Were you leading all these players?"

"Well of course I, ‹‹The Great Diabel›› led these players in the defense of Aincrad." Kirito focused above the players head. If someone or something had a title it would display it self above their head.

"The Great huh?" He replied. Instead of embarrassing the player by asking him more about his non existent title. Kirito realized he could still hear the city's alarm blaring on its interval. Kirito decided to speak up again. He gained everyone's attention quickly. "Considering the alarm is still going off, I would bet the event isn't over. Either there are more on the way or a goblin snuck past you guys somewhere into the city."

Haughtily Diabel responded. "No goblin could have gotten past the defense we put up. My plan was perfect we defeated them without a single casualty to the raid."

"When you say to the raid did some people die who were not in the raid?" Kirito asked curiously.

A sad look played across Diabel's face but Kirito noticed a strange glint in his eye. "Sadly before my group arrived I was told the goblins rushed in through the gate and managed to kill at least 30 players who have decided on a course of no combat. So they had no gear besides the starter gear, in fact most only had cosmetics on. And being only level one they died quickly. But from the main plaza in the first tier we were able to respond quickly to the threat. The npc gate guards never closed the gate and were quickly wiped out by the goblins. When we arrived on the scene I took charge and set up the battle line and we were able to get everyone not fighting out of the plaza."

Now up to date Kirito felt a mixture of pity and rage for the players who died because they didn't take Kayaba's threat seriously. "Well I guess the city is no longer a safe zone." Kirito said. The talking over with Kirito decided the event still had more to come. It had been 10 minutes since the scouts had been killed. "I am going to go scout outside the city in case there are more coming." Kirito said. "Don't close the gate on me." Spinning on his heels, his cloak swished out in the air, he strode determinedly out of the city.

Half way out on the plain surrounding the city Kirito spotted what was coming. He activated his ‹‹Hiding›› and ‹‹Searching›› skill and scanned over what he saw. Arranged in 4 horizontal lines of 11 blocks each followed by what looked like another block was 4,900 goblins. This army he saw looked like a major threat to Aincrad. Each block was 100 goblins strong, 99 of them were named ‹‹Goblin Warrior›› they were level 10 and had 1,200 health. Each warrior carried an iron short sword and an oval iron shield. They had an iron cap covering their skulls, and crude looking iron armor across their chest. Their legs and arms were un armored. The 100th goblin in each block was named ‹‹Goblin Captain›› they were level 14 and had 1,800 health. Each one had similar armor but they carried large two-handed maces or axes. The block at the back is what surprised Kirito though. These mobs stood on average 2 feet taller then their goblin counterparts. They wore leather armor and left their heads bare. They had pale white unhealthy looking skin with black splotches mixed all over. Their eyes gleamed a dangerous yellow and they had thin greasy black hair on their heads. These mobs were named ‹‹Orc Looter››. They duel wielded vicious looking axes and daggers. Some had 2 of the same others mixed it up. What surprised Kirito was that he had yet to encounter an orc even during the beta. But just looking at them he could tell they were far more dangerous then the goblins they accompanied. He scanned them and saw they were level 15 and had 2,000 health each. The 100th mob of their group instantly caught Kirito's eye when he noticed him in the middle.

Standing 7 feet tall was a monstrous sized creature. This creature was an orc. His name ‹‹Kaznak Orc Scum››. Kirito identified him as the leader of the army by his size and unique name. Scanning him Kirito revealed that Kaznak was level 18 and had 4,000 health. What as really surprising was that Kaznak carried a cruel looking black longbow. Kirito had never encountered a bow in SAO. On Kaznak's back he could see what looked like a giant war hammer.

Having scouted what was coming Kirito quickly turned around and rushed back to the gate as quickly as he could. Several minutes later he arrived back at the ‹‹East Gate››, panting slightly he ran through the gate and called out for Diabel.

"DIABEL! WHERE IS DIABEL?" His entrance shocked the players that stood around the gate. A quick response halted any further yelling.

"Oh well look here Black-san has returned. And I am right here."

Turning around Kirito saw Diabel and immediately explained what he had seen several minutes ago. A look of terror crossed Diabel's face.

Kirito decided to try to help Diabel out with what to do next.

"Look I know you don't seem to like me much but we need to act fast that army will be here very soon. We need to prepare a proper defense and get any able bodied players down here to fight."

Hearing Kirito, Diabel snapped out of his temporary terror. "Right, LISTEN UP EVERYONE." He roared gathering the 250 players attention he explained what was coming. "Ok now that you know what's coming listen to what we need to do. Close and bar the gate with anything you can find. I need players to run to the other gates on the outer tier and make sure they are closed and have someone stay and watch them in case the goblins attack from multiple directions. Also I need anyone who has invested into the ‹‹Throwing›› skill to get up on the wall or gate house. You will provide what little ranged damage you can. I realize most of you probably only have a couple daggers or knives or picks, but every little bit will help. Everyone who would call themselves a ‹‹Tank›› I want you to form a shield wall just before the gate. We will hold them there if they break the gate. Also I need people to run through the other tiers and find anyone who could throw or fight we need more than 250 players to find nearly 5,000 mobs. It's time the people of Aincrad were roused from their misery and participated to help us all get through these 5 years." His rousing speech done Diabel delegated out the tasks he needed completed.

With everything in motion Kirito found himself in the gate house looking down a murder hole above the gate. Currently the remaining 240 player were setting up along the wall or behind the gate preparing to fight the incoming army. Kirito had to admit he had expected people to freak out when they heard what was coming. Every goblin in the attack force was on par level wise with these players or above. If it came to a battle of numbers Kirito realized the players fell far too short currently. He didn't expect the runners to find many players capable of fighting the force they had to face. The group he now dubbed ‹‹The Guardians›› were the only players who had taken Kayaba's threat seriously. Everyone else he had observed in the past 2 days had looked to either be in denial or were to afraid to try leveling. Besides them were the people to low leveled to match the goblins in combat right now. These player were anywhere from level 2-10 but wouldn't be able to stand toe to toe in the coming fight. There were probably several thousand of them however.

Preparations as complete as they could be everyone began waiting in silence. Everyone was on edge and nervous. Several player near Kirito tried to lighten the mood with jokes but quickly stopped trying when no one laughed. Suddenly someone on the wall yelled out.

"I see them, it looks like 5 of those blocks are heading right for the gate."

'500 goblins are heading right for the gate. I hope we make it through this.' Kirito thought to himself. Before the first goblins made it within throwing range the npcs from the gate re spawned. All along the walls npc archers appeared. Only several appeared near the gate. They were the same as the ones Kirito had seen earlier. 'Why can't these npc's be as geared as the ones farther into the city.' He thought slightly angry. The npc archers gave out cries of distress realizing that the city was under attack. There was around 100 archers now mixed in with the 30 odd players who had the ‹‹Throwing›› skill. Kirito had realized it wasn't a very popular skill. The rest of the 4,400 goblins could be seen standing in formation outside arrow range waiting their turn to get at the gate or through it.

_Twang_

With near 100 repetitions of that noise the npc archers released their first volley. Their arrows rained down on the goblin warriors. The iron shield and armor helped deflect and block the storm that rained down on them. And with the heavy downpour still going on the archers aim was worse then usual. Kirito had watched as they fired and realized the archers had only managed to kill about 12 goblins. A direct critical hit from one of the arrows only dealt about 50% damage, and besides with most of the arrows not finding their mark the goblins had to be hit several times to be killed.

'I only have 4 daggers and several dozen throwing picks.' Kirito knew he had 4 guaranteed kills with his daggers but he didn't want to throw them down through the murder hole or he would probably never see those daggers again. He planned to use them later if the goblins broke in and he still needed to throw something. 'I hope I can kill them in one hit with these picks.' With that last thought the goblins entered into the small tunnel that housed the gate. Only three could stand at the gate and have enough room to swing at it at the same time. The player around Kirito began unleashing their hail of knives and picks. Kirito even saw a player throwing rocks. 'Smart but we didn't have time to gather a bunch of rocks beforehand. If we survive through this I will have to remember to recommend that players gather rocks for the next event.' With the archers still firing down into the mass of goblins that stood shields raised around the gatehouse tunnel and the players raining down bits of metal on them the goblins had taken near 100 casualties so far with minimum damage to the gate. Out of its 5,000 hp the gate was still at 4,830. With the way things had gone so far though he knew the goblins would eventually break through.

Kirito and most of the surrounding players had exhausted their throwing arsenal. Only the rock thrower and 3 others who it seemed had stocked up on throwing picks to go grind the skill later were still throwing. Beside them now shooting down through the murder holes and out on the walls the archers still stood shooting what seems to be an infinite supply of arrows. Kirito and the others walked out the gate house and about 10 feet away to the stair case and went to join the others at the gate. Other players had started to come streaming down to the gate. There now stood about 600 players the core 250 being ‹‹The Guardians›› and the others an assortment of lower levels all there to try to help out. Diabel was busy trying to organize all the new players into concentric rings behind the front line out from the gate. These rings were his plan to hold the goblins at bay so there large numbers couldn't be used to surround or overwhelm the players all at once. The tunnel the gate was in naturally helped with this. His plan was if anyone's health got too low they were to switch out with someone a ring behind them and heal up. Or if the worst happened and a player died the next ring would be there to stop them from running amok.

Their battle formation mostly set, with 3 rings set up and Diabel working on organizing more the players could only wait. The gate had fallen to 1,250 now and wouldn't last another 15 minutes. By now the goblins had lost 430. The remaining 70 goblins had yet to be reinforced. 'Since these are just npcs they will fight till the last man. Morale has no effect on them. If those were players attacking the gate no 70 odd men would still be fighting just as hard after watching 430 of their comrades get mown down.' Kirito thought. He currently found himself within the 3rd ring. The core 250 were farther ahead of him. He had been put in a section of the ring that had no shield users. Next to him stood a player who was taller then him, older if Kirito guessed correctly too. He had red hair and a slight beard on his chin. He was very scruffy looking. He wore a red headband and red dyed armor. Next to him stood several guys all colored similarly gear wise. 'A guild I wonder?' Kirito thought to himself. 'Back in the beta no one could figure out how to create a guild. I wonder if someone has figured it out since the game launched.' Broken from his thoughts the bandit looking man next to him said.

"Hey there Black-san that is quite a nice looking sword you have."

Kirito realized the man must just be trying to make small talk and ease the tension a bit. So he responded, "Yes it was a quest reward and I have upgraded it quite a bit." Kirito looked down and saw the man had a katana at his waist. "Your katana isn't too shabby looking either."

Chuckling good naturedly the man introduced himself. "Yes she is a real beauty isn't she. My name is Klein." He stuck his hand out. Reaching out and grabbing it Kirito felt like he could just talk with this guy. His normal awkwardness and stuttering forgotten he started enjoying this conversation.

"I am Kirito, pleasure to meet you Klein. If you don't mind me asking, are you in a guild with these guys?" Kirito gestured to the people next to Klein.

"A hah! Yes! Err well we will be a guild... Once someone figures out how to make one that is." He replied his normal cheery mood faltering slightly.

_CRACK!_

The resounding noise instantly cut off all conversation amongst the defenders. The gate had broken. Through the dust that had flown up Kirito could make out the shapes of the goblins. Apparently once the first wave had fallen to 50 goblins the 2nd wave which consisted of the remaining 6 blocks from the first goblin battle line had rushed forward to assist. Coming through that tunnel was near 600 goblins right now. With unnatural roars the goblin warriors came streaming out and crashed hard into the front shield wall. Packed in tight in the beginning of the tunnel stood the front line of players. The front row was kneeling down shield out and sword or daggers ready to be stabbed forward. Directly behind them stood a 2nd line with their shield held up creating a solid defense of shields. these players all held spears in their main hand and were going to stab through the gaps. Behind them stood a line of players ready to switch out with either of the first 2 rows. After those 3 lines, the players were arranged in their concentric circles as there was no more room in the tunnel so the players were out in the plaza.

The first goblins through slammed right into the kneeling line's shields, goblins began to die as they were stabbed. the front line had managed to hold through the weight of the initial charge. Kirito hoped they wouldn't buckle or break from the strain of 600 goblins pressing against them however. With that said the few that so far had trickled through the gate hole had now become a flood. The goblins pressed their attack trying to overwhelm the players but for the time being they held.

For close to 30 minutes all was going well. The archers had shifted and were now shooting down onto the goblins backs. the first reinforcement wave had been ground down to a measly 150 goblins. Amazingly no players had died yet and the first 3 rows had successfully been switching in and out. Kirito imagined some of those players levels must be nearing his now. But that's when everything went wrong. Another 500 goblins had just thrown themselves from the goblins 2nd battle line. The new weight had thrown off a player during a switch and he had tripped. The player he was suppose to be replacing got caught on him and a goblin dealt a critical blow to the back of the retreating player. His health dived from just above red straight to zero. With the sound of shattering pixels everyone was shocked to witness someone die just like that. Practically dog piling themselves through the gap the goblins wrecked the front 3 lines. The players themselves were exhausted and couldn't adapt to the sudden break in formation. The front line broke and all the players turned and ran the distance of 10 feet to the 1st concentric ring. The ring allowed anyone through that they could. This ring was a double line of players made up of the original 250 so they were still hardened warriors ready to do what they came here to do. Not frightened recruits called out because their help was needed. Kirito was thankful for that or the entire entourage of players might have lost the will to fight right there and ended up with thousands of players being massacred when the defense broke.

The fleeing players ran through all the concentric rings and Diabel intercepted them. He calmed them down and ushered them over to several of the houses nearby and told them to rest up and recover they were probably be needed soon. Kirito watched as the 1st ring buckled under the weight of the goblins. But the line held and soon the meat grinder of goblin flesh was underway. In the first line of defense had been nearly 80 players. 25 had died. the 1st ring was made up of the other 170 players. The 2nd ring was made up of about 200 recruits and was no where as close as nicely organized. After that the 3rd ring had about 220 players. Kirito was near the middle of the 3rd ring. He was near the center of the plaza. For a good hour the players grinded out the remaining assault and received the next one and were halfway through it. This next wave had been the rest of the 2nd goblin battle line. Around 350 goblins remained attacking. When the entire 3rd battle line came pouring into the tunnel. Their combined weight staggered the 1st ring and several players fell to the pressure. Diabel had resumed command from talking to the players who had retreated earlier. He saw what was happening and began ordering players from the 2nd ring forward to fill the gaps. Above the din of the fighting his voice could be heard.

"2nd RING FILL THOSE GAPS. BUT DON"T COMPLETELY ABANDON THE 2nd RING! 3rd RING FILL 2ND RING'S GAPS! KEEP IT UP BOYS!" And boys they really were Kirito had realized earlier there wasn't a single girl present among the core 250. Then following them with the odd 400-ish reinforcements there wasn't a single girl present. With Diabel's encouragement and planning the 1st ring managed to hold but they took casualties through it. Another 20 players had been reduced to death by the fierce fighting the goblins brought upon the 1st ring. Kirito now found himself at the front of the far left side of the 2nd ring. He was waiting for a chance to switch into the 1st ring. He had been on the side line to long and he could feel his blood boil at the thought of a great but terrible fight. He had experienced this before. Whenever he faced a immense battle or a hard challenge his blood would burn through his veins in anticipation. He longed for great battles. When his blood flowed hot like this he found he could think more clearly then he ever could normally and time seemed to slow for him. He could see everything as it was happening and sometimes he felt he could understand what was going to happen before it even did. This euphoria that was brought onto him led him to fiercely enjoy fighting and he relished it whenever he could. Now he had been held back from the greatest battle within SAO yet for to long.

But he had no such luck yet. His side of the 1st ring wasn't as hard pressed as the middle or right side. With constant rotations and some luck no one else died while the 3rd goblin battle line was reduced to pixels. Instead of the 4th group of 1,100 goblins rushing through Kirito saw the group of 99 orc's rush down the tunnel towards them. The players in the 1st ring were surprised by the speed the orcs ran at and their sudden appearance. It was much faster then the goblins. Their twisted swords and axes gleamed wet with rain from the torchlight as the sky had continued to pour feverishly during the whole battle. The orcs hit the 1st ring like a bullet through paper. With agility and strength far superior to that of their inferior goblin comrades the orcs caused near 3 dozen casualties immediately. The 1st ring was completely run through in the middle and luckily for Kirito on the left. With a great bellow Kirito rushed forward to meet the orc charge. Unnoticed to him he inspired the players surrounding him in the 2nd line and they followed his example battle cries of their own matching the orc's harsh yells. Kirito tore into the lightly armored orcs and started executed medium level sword combo's chaining them together Kirito cut down at least 30 orcs on his own. The remaining players on his side gave him a wide berth to let him continue his frenzy. On the right side the players had managed to repel the orc charge and were slowly grinding them down. In the middle was chaos. The 2nd ring had managed to close down the orc charge and keep it from spreading down the 1st ring. However the damage had been done and the first ring had taken it hard.

The orc's didn't last long as they were much more about offense then defense and as such the solid defense put of by the players managed to thwart them after their charge had been reigned in. Now formed back up the 1st ring was solid once again. Kirito was in the front on the left side. His initial excitement at finally being able to participate in the battle had now turned to determination as there were still 1,001 mobs to defeat. He wanted to save as many players lives as he could and he knew that throwing himself completely into the fight would accomplish that. The 2nd ring was formed up behind the 1st but the remnants of the 3rd ring just kind of stood around. As they were the reserves there were only around 40 of them left. The players from the initial first part of the defense that had been resting had rejoined the fight during the orcs attack and were mixed in with the 1st and 2nd ring.

There however wasn't time to rest as 800 goblins came rushing down the tunnel and into the plaza to fight the defenders. Several players died during this fight none were on Kirito's side however. Kirito had managed to draw the goblins ire and was the center of many of the goblins thoughts. By the time this wave of goblins had been dealt with Kirito found himself to be level 22 from having slain so many goblins. And the orc's xp helped as well. There was a lull in the assault and Kirito quickly spent the points he had earned for leveling. Before he could do anything else An arrow wizzed down the tunnel and hit a player in the face. The large black painted arrow was still stuck in the players head as he was reduced to zero hp. He died without even knowing why. This sudden appearance had surprised the remaining defenders if the many startled cries of shock were anything to judge by.

"The boss has a longbow! Watch out!" Kirito yelled remembering what he saw from scouting. Another arrow wizzed down the tunnel this time it met a players shield and safely ricocheted off to the ground. Kirito was glad the tunnel didn't point his way as the left side of the 1st ring didn't line up with the tunnel. With a roar 100 goblins ran down the tunnel. Followed by the large black shafted arrows. Several players in the middle were unable to fight and protect themselves from arrows at the same time so they fell to the menacing shots. But otherwise the 100 goblins were easily dealt with. Everyone still on the defense had figured out their attack patterns and tells for what they were about to do making them easy to predict. With another glass shattering roar the boss came thundering down the tunnel. His bow had been discarded and he now wielded his war hammer. He crashed into the shield of the middle and rent the defenders apart. Kaznak sped right into the 2nd ring and kept going. He effectively made a path right through the defenders. And through that path came the remaining 200 goblins. 50 of the goblins had torches in their hand instead of swords. How those torches were still lit was beyond Kirito as the rain was still relentlessly pouring. It was late evening at this point and the rain added an awful chill. Seeing Kaznak tear through at least 15 player like wet tissue paper caused several players to start running. The goblins had either engaged the 1st and 2nd ring or if they had a torch they had ran through and were now in the plaza. they ran to different sides of the plaza and started lighting the houses on fire by throwing their torches through windows. At least 35 houses and 2 inns sprang up in a giant blaze. The plaza was now illuminated in the dancing light of the fires. No one had yet to engage Kaznak and he continued to wipe through the right side of the 2nd ring. Kirito knew what he had to do. He easily wiped the floor with the goblins in his path. When he was 15 feet away from Kaznak he threw his first dagger. It stuck high into Kaznak's left shoulder Kirito repeated the process and hit high on the right shoulder. Being the only one to deal even an insignificant amount of damage to the army leader Kirito drew agro.

Kaznak let loose a deafening roar of pain. He turned and his eyes alighted on Kirito. War hammer held high above his head Kaznak leapt the distance between them intent on smashing Kirito through the ground. Kirito quickly rolled out of the way. Coming up to Kaznak's right Kirito initiated a quick 4 hit combo. Landing each hit freely Kirito jumped back a bit for space after his last strike. Kaznak had been frozen slightly for using such a high level hammer skill and missing. Kaznak now had about 3,800 health. He attempted to play whack a mole with Kirito but each time Kirito managed to slip away and then deal some damage to Kaznak. Kirito had single handedly managed to reduce Kaznak to 2,000 health when other players joined him. They had managed to finish off the last of the goblins. To Kirito it seemed only players with spear were willing to attack the boss. They each would run in and stab the boss while he was frozen from trying to smash Kirito then they would run out. This continued till the boss had 100 health left. He somehow faked a frozen moment then when players rushed in he spun his hammer like a helicopter and killed the 4 players that had rushed him with spear and knocked Kirito back. Kirito had taken a glancing blow from the war hammer but his health had fallen into the red.

'Holy shit!' He mentally exclaimed. 'That boss hits like a truck!'

The boss continued his spinning and no one was able to get close to him. But the boss was moving around so players were fleeing from his seemingly unstoppable attack. Kirito took out his upgraded dagger and activated a throw. The dagger span circles on it self as it aimed for the bosses head. A part that his circling war hammer left undefended. With the sound of metal on bone and flesh Kirito's dagger sunk into the bosses skull.

_Congratulations you got the last attack bonus!_

A window appeared in front of Kirito informing him of his achievement. Another window appeared showing him all the loot he had received over the course of the long fight. And a 3rd window appeared showing him what he received from killing the boss and what the last attack bonus actually was. Quickly standing up Kirito walked over to the dagger which had fallen to the ground with his other 2 and he knelt and picked them up. Spinning on his heels he strode from the plaza. All the other players were in shock or to busy celebrating to notice his departure. Kirito had just immediately minimized the windows. He needed to leave the plaza. Walking to an inn on the far side of the city Kirito checked himself to bed and passed out his exhaustion from fighting finally catching up.

* * *

AN:Wow longest chapter I have ever written that's for sure. Hope you enjoyed it. The next one should be out within a week but no guarantees.

Feel Free to R/R.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: The Guardians as Kirito called that initial group that challenged the first event is my stories version of the Front Liners or the Clearers.

Anyway its time for chapter four! Hope you enjoy.

* * *

_December 7, 2025  
_

_West Side Inn 3rd Tier_

A blob of black could be found curled up in a bed within the largest inn on the west side of Aincrad. This blob was Kirito. After the hectic event yesterday he had immediately walked over here and passed out from exhaustion. He had no real idea of the damage to the city or how many players lost their lives in its defense. But when he eventually wakes up he plans to find out. Besides that on his to do list is to examine all the loot he got yesterday. He didn't even know what the rare drop for the last attack bonus was.

In his dreaming mind he was having flashbacks of the previous night. Chief among them were constant replays of the man he had met yesterday, Klein if he remembered. He dreamt of their conversation and he dreamt of the mans possible fate. After experiencing so much death his mind was wracked with nightmares. He envisioned Klein crushed by Kaznak's war hammer, he envisioned him hamstrung by an orc, and he envisioned him struck by a stray arrow from the npc archers. After the latest one he jerked away and fell out of his bed in a tangle with the sheets. Thankfully for his dignity there was no one to see him. Freeing himself Kirito thought. 'I definitely should find out what really happened to Klein, I hope he survived he seemed like a nice guy.' Broken from his thoughts Kirito heard his stomach release a growl as loud as Kaznak's roar. He sat down on his bed and quickly opened his menu and scrolled to the food section. He materialized some bread and honey and chowed down.

While eating Kirito un minimized the windows from yesterday. The first one was just a congratulatory statement telling him he got the last attack bonus drop. He closed that and opened the window that showed the drop.

‹‹Orc Longbow››

'What!? A bow?' Kirito thought in surprise. 'There was never a mention of bows that a player could use in the beta. But maybe it is a rare skill that gets unlocked when a player equips a bow?' A large greedy smile crossed his face. 'Either way I bet anyone would pay hundreds of thousands of Col for this beauty. I'm gonna be so filthy rich.' If one were to walk past his room they would hear a very creepy self satisfied laugh echoing from it.

Kirito accepted the item and then began to scan through all the common drops he got from killing the goblins and orcs. He got nothing special besides large amounts of low quality gear and some mats, and a great deal of col aswell. That was when he noticed the message icon. Tapping it he found a message from Argo.

_Hey Ki-Bou!_

_Whenever your lazy ass wakes up message me we need to talk._

_K bye!_

_Argo _

"Meeehh. Why does she need to see me?" Kirito said out loud. With a quick back and forth the two agreed to meet for lunch in an hour at a bakery in the north west part of the 3rd tier.

_An hour later  
Dough'nt take my word for it_

Kirito saw the name of the bakery and chuckled slightly. 'Really, why would someone name their bakery that!' Walking in Kirito saw Argo sitting at a small two person table. He walked up and sat down across from her. The bakery was small on the inside. There were several tables set up but mostly the interior was dominated by the counter and behind it the door the must have led to the kitchen.

"Hey there Argo, how is it going?"

Argo was a short girl with brown hair that fell down to her shoulders. Her bangs hung just above her eyes. Which were a deep chocolate brown. She had 3 whisker marks on each side of her face. And she wore a large brown cloak with a hood that helped her blend into a crowd. She was an information broker. There weren't a lot of them in SAO maybe 5-6, but Argo was the best. Most players knew that and her business flourished compared to others. She buys and sells information to a large portion of the player base. Even only after 30 days her competition was floundering. She and Kirito had met during the beta and Kirito had added her to his friends list realizing she was his best bet whenever he wanted to learn something or needed to sell something with out going to a player merchant. For some reason beyond Kirito she had taken a liking to him more so than her normal customers.

She gave him a million watt smile and said. "Rumor on the street is Kirito that a player dressed in black with a nice shiny sword was the one who practically solo'ed the boss yesterday and got the last hit on him. So I am curious if this game has a last attack bonus drop? And if so what did you get? I already know it was you. No one else it reckless enough to solo a boss."

Pretending to look upset Kirito replied. "Argo I am affronted, me reckless? I thought you knew me better. But if I just so happened to know the answer to your questions I could be persuaded to tell." He finished with a smirk.

"How about 200 col for an answer then."

"I will take it." With that Kirito opened a trade window and Argo sent him 200 col.

"Ok now spill, did you get something?"

"To answer your question, yes I did. However if you want an answer to what it is I will charge you another 50 col if you help me find a buyer for it. Otherwise I will charge ya 1000 col to just find out." Answered Kirito.

"Ki-bou! Aww damit! No fair you were suppose to tell me for the 200." She pouted. Her bottom lip was curled out and she stared Kirito down with the biggest puppy dog eyes she could muster.

Kirito quickly glanced away, he knew his resolve would crumble if he looked at her pout for to long. "Not happening Argo pay me another 50 col and we can keep this talk going."

"Boo hoo." Came her reply as she gave him another 50 col. "And anyway of course I would help you sell it, assuming I can take 10% of the sale."

"5." Was all she got.

"Fine 8% or you can go find someone else to help you sell it."

"Alright alright alright already. Stop pouting at me. So you ready to see what I got?" He took a pause and waited till she nodded her head. "Alright," Kirito leaned in so no one could hear. "I got a bow..."

"WHAT!"

"Yeah it's named ‹‹Orc Longbow››. I didn't even know there were bows in the game player's could use. But it must be that bow the boss was shooting with. Hey anyway Argo what happened after I killed the boss yesterday. I just left right away I was to tired to focus and I needed to pass out."

Argo had a calculative look on her face. She was clearly scheming on how to maximize the bow's sale price. Kirito snapped his fingers in front of her face to get her attention. Then he asked her about what happened after he left again.

"Oh after you left..."

_Flashback to yesterday  
Argo's POV_

Argo found herself situated on top of a house about 100 feet away from where the boss was currently spinning like a top. She was cold and soaking wet but she knew tomorrow she would have information to sell about this event. The rain didn't block her vision to bad but it was hard to see clearly in the darkness that only a few torches and several burning buildings illuminated. She had watched as someone clad in black fought the boss solo till others had tried to muster their courage to help. Then she watched as that player continued to fight the boss till he began spinning. In a brief flash of panic she worried the boss might kill more people with his endless spin. Till she saw the player in black throw a shining dagger that glinted in the torch light. It struck true and dropped the boss. The player in black walked over grabbed his daggers then stumbled away before anyone could congratulate him. As everyone else was busy cheering and celebrating. One player ran up towards the 2nd tier gate. Thousands of players were waiting just behind the gate ready to make a last stand if the defenders below failed. With a shout he alerted everyone of the success and the gate was slammed open and thousands of players washed down the street with the intent to smother the defenders and show them just how happy they were because of them.

Argo watched for an hour as everyone celebrated in the square down below. Eventually people realized that the fire had spread and dozens of houses and several inns had burnt down. No one had any idea how to counter the fire so it just burned its course and sputtered out from the heavy downpour. But no matter what ended the fire it had still managed to burn down a chunk of the eastern section of the 3rd tier. The gate there was in shambles as well. Thankfully the alarm had ended when the boss died. It was hard to tell over the rain however. Sick of the rain, everyone dispersed and went to find a place to sleep. Argo had gone up to he Memorial Slab and read the counter.

Before the battle there had been 38,993 players left alive. After words there was 38,857. 136 people had been killed. While very sad, if those people hadn't put their lives on the line against the first event, then potentially thousands of players could have been caught unaware and massacred. Argo had down some simple math and realized that if around the same number died each time they would lose close to 8,000 people minimum. She hoped that wouldn't be the case, as that would be a tragic loss of life.

_End Flashback_

"Wow so 136 people died yesterday?" Kirito asked.

Completely unknown to he both of them the owner of the bakery had listened in on the story and had gleaned that the boy sitting there was the boy in black from the story.

"Uhhhm... Excuse me, I'm extremely sorry to interrupt, but the boy from that story, it was you? Yes?" Asked a feminine voice. Her question startled both of them out of their reverie.

Looking embarrassed Kirito scratched the back of his neck and said. "Err... Well yeah that was me..."

"Wow" The girl answered with huge eyes. Kirito noticed she had vibrant brown/orange eyes. A nice chestnut color really. He was so busy drowning in the depths of her eyes that he completely missed her next question. The girl saw that he hadn't heard her but she had no idea how to get his attention. Thankfully for her Argo kicked Kirito's shin under the table.

"OWW!" He exclaimed. He glared at Argo. Seeing that the boy wasn't distracted anymore The bakery owner tried asking her question again.

"Umm, excuse me, but can I get you anything to eat? It is on the house as a thanks for what you did yesterday."

Kirito snapped his gaze back to the girl and took in the rest of her features. She had very long hair the flowed down her back in the same color as her eyes. She had a very pretty pale complexion and was by no means a fat slob. She was a healthy weight maybe slightly skinny and certainly wasn't lacking where most boys look. Finally registering her question Kirito answered. "Err, hmm yeah sure, miss...?"

"Oh please call me Asuna. That's my name and this is my bakery! So what can I get for you...?"

"Oh sorry, my name is Kirito, It is a pleasure to meet you Asuna, this here" He pointed at Argo. "Is Argo. I can't speak for her but if it wouldn't be to much trouble could I get several croissants?"

"Oh yes croissants, I have several of those and they are very freshly baked, I will be right back with them." She completely forgot to get Argo's order and went to get the boy's order. Asuna couldn't figure out why but she really wanted to get the boy to like her baking for some reason. And hadn't registered that Argo might want something as well in her quest to make him eat her food.

Kirito looked at Argo and saw her smirking at him deviously. "What's with the look Argo?" He asked.

Argo let a chuckle out and said. "Looks like you have a fan girl Kirito."

Kirito immediately turned red and started spluttering. "Wha!.. no.. no Argo that's nonsense." His face was a bright red and he was trying to hide it in the high collar of his cloak.

Argo couldn't help herself and started laughing as hard as she could. After several seconds of laughing under Kirito's glare she composed herself and said. "You are right Kirito, with the way you were starring at her it is much more likely that she now had a fanboy. At least her bakery is likely to not go out of business with the amount you eat." After speaking she saw Kirito's dumb founded look and lost it again. This time she would continue laughing until Asuna returned with the croissants. Kirito quickly wolfed down the croissants, told Argo to look for a buyer, stood up, thanked Asuna profusely for her kindness, then stormed out of the bakery.

As the door shut a confused and slightly sad Asuna turned to look at Argo. "Oh my" She quickly flushed with embarrassment. "I forgot to take your order, I am so sorry. What can I get for you?"

Holding in a laugh so as to not upset the baker further, Argo order a breakfast scone and some tea. A bit later while enjoying her meal she was furiously sending out potential probing messages to possible buyers for the bow Kirito had. she was planning to have the competition compete against one another and run the price up very high. At the very least as this was the only bow in the game she would take nothing less than 250,000 col.

* * *

_With Kirito_

'I can't get my mind off that baker. She was so beautiful, her eye's were so amazing and her hair looked so soft... ACK! what am I thinking? I have never been that interested in girls before. But something about her I just can't get out of my mind. Hmm, maybe it was her baking it was very good? No that can't be it. Erff, I don't have time for this there is only 29 more days till the next event and I need to level high enough for it. Since none of the surrounding areas will have strong enough mobs I guess I need to strike out further into the forest, maybe if I go deep enough I will find higher level mobs.' With his mind set Kirito set out to get his equipment repaired at Lizbeth's and to give Agil all his drops from the previous day.

Lizbeth told him of a tailor she new about who was at least at 200/1000. So Kirito popped over to the women's shop. Turns out she was able to add the ‹‹Small Chest›› upgrade to his campsite. So he went and stocked up on some non perishable food in case hunting was scarce in the deeper parts of the ‹‹Northern Forest›› and he set out towards the northern gate.

As Kirito approached the gate he could hear a whinnying sound like a horse, but he choked it up to a caravan coming in. But when he walked out the gate he saw a fully fledged stable that had seemingly sprung up over night. Kirito decided to investigate. He found a merchant who it turns out was selling horse's as mounts. Kirito bought one for 5,000 col. Which nearly tapped him dry of col. He was given a manual on how to use a horse.

_Mounts_

_Horses are the most common and cheapest mount available in the game. Purchasing a horse unlocks the ‹‹mount›› skill. Mounts may be ridden anywhere besides inside building and caves. If a mount's hp reaches zero it cannot be summoned again for 1 day and you must got pay a fee to the stable. Otherwise you may leave a mount tied up in any relatively safe place it it can stay there indefinitely. Once summoned it will appear from where ever you left it. To summon simply call out this phrase ‹‹I summon thee (insert mount's name here)›› Mount's do not require food or water, and they do not need to sleep. They have no stamina and can continue at their max speed indefinitely. You must name your mount before you may ride it. _

Kirito had bought a medium sized black horse. It was pitch black and very healthy looking. The ‹‹Mount›› skill popped into his skill list and was 1/1000. He named the horse Midnight and with that he mounted it. Thankfully for him in SAO there were two methods to riding a mount. You could be in total control, which is only recommended if you actually know how to ride a horse. Or you can be in assisted mode where the horse is much simpler to control. Responded to verbal commands. IT is however recommended that a player learns to be in total control as verbal commands offer less control but more ease of use.

'I am going to learn how to ride this guy properly before I head in to the forest I think.' And with that Kirito switched to real life control and began a very painful stretch of 3 days learning a solid foundation of how to ride his horse. He used the lumber camp as a base of operations and pretty much just spent all day riding till he was able to handle it pretty well.

With a strong foundation in place he turned Midnight toward the forest and set off to explore.

* * *

AN: Woo hoo! ‹‹Mount›› is just one of several other original skills I plan to implement into my story.

-**Blackangel257** this will not be a harem, I am not big on writing romance and I really doubt I could write a harem, there will probably be some decent Asuna/Kirito.

-**8Tyedye8 **For defenders on the wall there are several plans I have for implemented a stronger range defense. Bow's will be extremely rare, thrown weapons will take a larger role and the npc's will continue to contribute.

I hope you enjoyed. Feel free to leave a review.


End file.
